Running From Love
by InspiringWordsx
Summary: A rewrite of my story "Running Away From Love" in which Edward ignores Bella, causing her to leave Forks for a year. When she comes back, she finds out certain things.. A lot better than it sounds, I swear.
1. The Beginning

_Why do things change?_ I wondered as I glanced out my window, seeing and secretly hoping if I could catch just one glimpse of my ex-best friend. A tear fell down my cheek as I watched Edward Cullen walk past my house, instead of up to the door like he'd always done for years. _He's forgotten me already._ I turned my eyes from the window and reached for a tissue, remembering the last day we'd spoken, the day that I'd told him I loved him. Edward Cullen and I had been friends since I moved to Forks, Washington four years ago to live with my father, Charlie. My Mother, Renee, had gotten remarried and traveled so much that she and her new husband Phil decided it would be best for me if I had a stable home, ergo having me move in with Charlie.  
Edward and I had both been about thirteen, and we'd become fast friends. We did everything together, and were pretty much inseparable, until the year I turned sixteen. It was then that Edward changed and became more distant. He wouldn't return my calls, email me, or even answer my IMs, and so finally I had decided to confront him about it at school.. That was the worst mistake of my life.

_One Week Earlier:_

"Edward?" I tapped him on the shoulder, biting my lip. He turned around and raised an eyebrow at me, looking both annoyed and mad that I had interrupted his flirting with Lauren, the head cheerleader of Forks High.  
"What do you want?" He gave me a look of impatience, as I looked around.  
"Can we talk?" I asked. "In private?" I added,glancing pointedly at the crowds of school kids crowding around us hoping to see a fight. Edward looked around and then nodded, brushing past me as we left the school building and walked across the school yard, going behind the school and walking a safe distance away where we could yell as much as we wanted with no one to hear us.  
"What do you want, Isabella?" his voice was tight with impatience and anger, and I stopped walking and turned to look at him. I had to fight the urge to not only scream at him, but to cry.  
_I will not break down in tears in front of him_.  
"Why have you been ignoring me and avoiding me?" A muscle in his jaw twitched, alerting me that he was well and truly angry, and what cemented that realization was the fact that he turned around and walked away. I just stood there, staring at his retreating back, unaware that tears were falling down my cheeks. Suddenly all the sleepless nights came back, and my legs buckled under me, sending me to the ground with a whimper of pain. I let the tears come, as I sobbed loudly.  
"You've avoided me, Edward! You've ignored my IMs, my calls, my texts, you haven't sat on the bus with me since you got your new car, and even now you don't offer to let me ride in it, since I'm not blonde with great legs and big boobs. You don't sit with me at OUR table, you sit with Lauren and Tyler and the other 'popular' kids at their table. You don't study with me anymore, you flirt with Lauren and all the other cheerleaders. I've been your friend for three years, Edward, I think I deserve the answer to _why_ you've been avoiding me; you owe me that much, if nothing else!"  
Through this speech I didn't even realized that I had started to stand and started to shake my fists at him, screaming at him in a voice that didn't sound like my own that was filled with pain, anger, hurt, and exhaustion. Edward turned around and glared at me, his eyes turning into a very stormy gold.  
"You've been stalking me, haven't you? How else would you know all the things you know? I always thought you a little desperate but I didn't think you'd go as far as to stalk me." He shook his head, and snarled at me. "Stop stalking me or I will press charges against you, Isabella. I won't stand to be harassed."  
The anger now rolled off me in heavy waves, and I felt my heart beat with the force of it. I could no longer remember how to control myself. I ran up to him and grabbed his shoulder, turning him around.  
"Isabella, I don't want to be friends with you anymore; I've made that clear enough. Will you just leave me the hell alone, and stop chasing after me like a love sick puppy?" He glaring at me as he shrug off my hand. My hand came up and I slapped him hard across the face. Angry tears glinted in my eyes, but I wouldn't let them fall. Shock registered on his face, and then regret. "Bella.."  
"I stalk you? I'm desperate? You son of a bitch. I loved you, Edward Cullen. I _loved_ you." I backed away from him, tears overflowing. Horrified that I'd told him my secret, I ran past him.  
_Your secret will be all over school, you little fool. He'll tell everyone, and laugh.  
You little fool.. You little fool... _

**Present time:**

The tears fell faster, and this time I let them come. I'd done far to much crying but really, wasn't that what was to be expected? I shook my head and blew my nose.  
I needed to leave, that was what I needed to do..  
_Can I really leave him?_ I wondered. _You must_, my heart whispered to my head. I got off of the seat I'd spent to much time in for the last week, and got my suit case.  
_I love you, Edward Cullen._


	2. The Return of Bella

**Edward Cullen POV: **

_I'm such an ass,_ I thought to myself. I'd made her run, cry and I had pretty much convinced her that I hated her and that I didn't want to be her friend anymore. _What a liar I am._  
_What would she have done, _I wondered,_ had I taken her into my arms and told her she was the most beautiful thing that ever could, will and did exist in my world? What would she have done if I had I done what I wanted, and held her and kissed her until it wasn't sadness but something else in her eyes? _ Not knowing would kill me but I knew that I had done what needed to be done. _No, Bella didn't want someone like me in her life - she needed someone like Mike Newton_ I thought, as I opened the door to my Volvo and quickly realized that someone else was in my seat.  
_Oh God, give me the strength __**not**__ to ring her little neck,_ I silently pleaded with God, my hand leaving the handle of the door and my feet taking me back a couple of steps as she stepped out. I sighed, looking at her through my sunglasses. "What are you doing here, Alice?" I was too drained to even glare at her. "And could you tell me just _how_ you got into my car? There was no key.." I trailed off, seeing her expression of smugness and absolute anger. _She's certainly pissed today,_ I mused. She jumped out of the car and all hell broke loose.  
"How dare you, Edward? Just how _dare_ you! What gave you the right to crush her like that? To hurt her so badly that she had to leave me? Shes my best friend, Edward, or should I say she w_as_ my best friend?" Her finger landed on my chest and started jabbing and poking me with it. I looked at her, my heart pounding with fear. _Please don't let her be talking about Bella.. _  
"What do you mean, 'she had to leave me'? I don't understand one word you're saying, Alice." my voice wasn't steady and from the way she stopped ranting and looked at me I knew she realized this.  
".. Edward, Bella left." She said softly, gently touching my arm with her hand. The bottom of my world suddenly fell out beneath me, causing me to fall. "When?" I forced the question past the block in my throat and through my stiff lips.  
"About twenty minutes ago. She was crying her eyes out and manged to tell me that she'd told Charlie that she wanted some girl time with Renee for awhile."  
If my heart had began breaking the past weeks with the things I'd said and done to Bella, it was now well and truly shattering. _What have I done to her? Oh, God, what have I done?_

_**Bella Swan POV  
**_

_One year later:_

_So much has changed,_ I thought looking out the window I'd last looked at a year ago today. _How was I able to survive without him?_ I wondered drawing my knees up on my chair and resting my head on them. I sighed. _Face the truth, Bella, he's gone. He's been gone for a year. You're seventeen, grow the hell up already._ I got off the chair and decided the voice inside me was right, I needed to move on since he'd obviously been able to. I remembered the day that I had come back home, crying so hard and trying desperately to hold on to my slippery edge of control and sanity, but to no avail. I had fallen into a coma, if you will. I had gone through all the motions of everything, yet it all seemed surreal; like a dream. I had somehow gotten myself to stand up from my porch from where I had collapsed, ran to my room and packed my bags within an hour. Then I called Charlie and said I needed some girl space with Renee because I missed her and had questions only a girl could answer.  
From the fact he could probably hear the tears in my voice and that he thought I was talking about my period and sex, he agreed to send me to Renee's. I then called Alice and said I was leaving for awhile and after being badgered with questions and demands from her, I relented and told her the reason I was leaving. I'd stayed with Renee for a year but it really didn't help, since everything got worse. Soon my usually stellar grades started dropping, along with my clothing size and before you knew it, I stopped sleeping as much too. All I did was dream of Edward, and remember the good days when we'd been friends and it had been so easy to love him. I hadn't realized I needed to leave until one day when I saw myself in the mirror; I looked like a ghost, like I'd fade away. I was so pale and thin that I suddenly knew why Renee and her husband kept giving me concerned, worried looks every time they saw me. Suddenly, I knew I needed to go back to my home, to go back to Edward.

So here I am, one year later and one year older.  
_He's forgotten you, Bella,_ I tried hard to convince myself, not for the first time. I sighed, and started to walk to the kitchen to see what I'd make for dinner when the door bell rang. Slanting a look at the clock I saw it read 3:30 PM. I sighed. _What the hell,_ I figured, and stalked to the door to open it, throughly annoyed with myself because my heart started to pound, hoping it was Edward at the door. The door bell was still ringing.  
"All right, all right, all right, all ready! Will you please SHUT UP? I'm coming!" I ran the rest of the way to the door, and unlocking it, I threw it open with a look of impatience...  
Only to have my heart stop beating, my legs go weak, and tears burn my eyes.  
_God must really have a sense of humor._

**Hey guys, I know it's short and I'm pretty much a week late but hey - better late than never, right? xD  
So let me know what you think of the new chapter, and if you have any ideas.  
I dedicate this to:**

**James - for being there for me when I need him.  
Alex - for making me smile and laugh.  
Damon - for being him.  
and Tara - for pretending that she has Adam Lambert locked in her bathroom. 3**

_I love you all so much. 3  
_- Misty 3


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